


See You Around

by notstilinski



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Friends to Lovers, The Death Isn't Dramatic Or Anything Either, The Universe Where Chloe Was Crippled Is Real, no beta readers we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 14:25:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17205050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notstilinski/pseuds/notstilinski
Summary: It was so stupid. She was in the Vortex Club and friends with the coolest people in the school. Nathan wasn’t all too bad, either. He actually seemed pretty cool and nice. Did it matter that Max knew that it was really a front that he put up?But none of them mattered more than Chloe. She didn’t deserve what happened to her and she did not deserve to be abandoned by all her friends.





	See You Around

**Author's Note:**

> I just rolled up to a fandom three years late with Starbucks and no fucks. The idea came to me during the playthrough of the game that I was watching and I really loved the idea. Of course, I have no idea if Chloe could have survived more than a couple of months from when she reunited with Max but just go with it. And, yeah, I did take some canon dialogue for the last scene. (Also keep in mind that this fic was not beta read or reviewed so there are definitely some mistakes).

     Ever since she had come back to Arcadia Bay, Max was intent on improving the relationship she had with Chloe. Joyce and William were so happy that their daughter had someone to spend her time with. A friend, her mind supplied each time. Chloe was the only friend that she wanted to keep if she would be completely honest with herself. It was so stupid. She was in the Vortex Club and friends with the coolest people in the school. Nathan wasn’t all too bad, either. He actually seemed pretty cool and nice. Did it matter that Max knew that it was really a front that he put up?

     But none of them mattered more than Chloe. She didn’t deserve what happened to her and she did not deserve to be abandoned by all her friends. Maybe that was part of the reason that Max was so stubborn about spending time together and being friends again. Guilt. There was no way that chloe would have accepted that if she had known. 

    It would be what actually broke up their friendship. 

     Max felt guilty when she won the  _ Everyday Heroes _ contest because it almost felt like she was leaving her best friend again. She wished that she could bring Chloe along with her so she could see the world. And to have some sort of experience outside of her house and bedroom. 

    “Stop feeling guilty,” Chloe said the day before Max was supposed to leave. 

     The other girl could barely meet her friend’s eye. 

     “I can’t help it,” she murmured while staring at her hands, “It still feels like I’m leaving you. Again.”

     Blue met blue as they stared at each other for a long and silent moment. Almost like they were having one of those silent conversations that they used to have with each other. The two of them were food at those. 

     “Stop making excuses,” Chloe said after a moment with a small eye roll, “you deserve this way more than you think. And you’re going to go to San Francisco and kick some serious ass, Mad Max.”

     It was unclear if the jolt that went through Max was due to the nickname or the swear. She relaxed again with a small smile, “I guess you’re right. I’ll bring you back a souvenir.”

     As it turned out, every time that Max went somewhere out of Arcadia Bay, she would bring home a souvenir. There was a shelf in Chloe’s room that became covered in souvenirs over the years. It was amazing that Max got to travel so much and visit all over the country. As big of a creep as Mark Jefferson was, he had been right when he said that Max Caulfield had a gift for photography. 

     She was so young and already had a steady climb to success! Nothing too major, either. But half of the money that she got for some of her work went to the Price family to help them cover Chloe’s medical bills. It wasn’t that much but it definitely helped the family. Even if Chloe was pissed about it when she first found out. That had been a rough  _ week _ for all of them but everything turned out okay for the most part. 

     After about a year or so of mostly success, Max and Chloe had been able to convince Joyce and William to go to one of the galleries that was showing some of Max’s pictures. It would be a trip for the entire family! Plus it would be nice for them to be there to support her. It helped that one of the pictures that would be up in the gallery was of Chloe. A picture that Max had managed to snap on one of their walks along the beach. There hadn’t even been an actual fight about if she could use the photo in the gallery or not. 

_     She looks beautiful _ , Max thought as she looked at the picture. Max had managed to time it well enough that the picture was snapped during ‘the golden hour.’ The mere  thought about that moment made her bring a hand to the ring that hung around her neck.

God. 

     Had there always been something there? Their childhood seemed like four lifetimes ago and she could never tell through the pictures that they had. Of course, every picture of them from before Max moved to Seattle had them looking more than happy. The sort of happiness that they had managed to coax each other into after they were reunited. It was nice to be close to each other, if Max would be honest with herself. It was nice to have that sort of closeness and security with someone. 

     William had been staring at the picture of his daughter for what seemed like an hour before Max approached him. Quietly with her hands clasped in front of her, she stood beside him as they both took a moment to admire the picture. Chloe seemed to be so genuinely happy in it which was a beautiful thing all on its own. In all honesty? William had never seen his daughter look like that within the last five and a half years. He had missed seeing his little girl so happy. 

     “I’m happy for you two,” he said after a couple minutes of silence.

     “Thanks you,” Max said with a small duck of her head. 

     They both took their time while they looked at the picture. After another few moments, Max ventured off to look at the other photographs that the gallery had. People only stopped her to talk a handful of times. Conversations that Max politely kept short as she continued through the gallery. She hadn’t seen Joyce or Chloe in awhile, something that she felt more than terrible about. 

     “Max!” The look on Chloe’s face when she saw the other girl was more than heartwarming. Max almost wished that she was able to take a picture of that moment. 

     “Hey,” Max said softly once she was close enough while she let her hand rest on Chloe’s shoulder.

     Joyce seemed rather focused on the conversation that she was having with one of the hipsters that seemed to frequent the art galleries. Part of her wondered what they could be talking about. The conversations that she had with other art goers almost seemed like she was simply going through the motions because it all seemed like each other. It wasn’t like that for Joyce or any member of the Price family. It was there first time in that sort of settine. 

     “You’re the girl from the picture, right?”

     Two pairs of eyes moved to the stranger that had just been talking to Joyce. He had seemed to move on as he took a step or two closer to them. Of course, had recognized Max since everyone knew who she was at that gallery. But it was amazing to see a photographer’s subject in real life! Especially when it was a picture like that one that Max took. Despite the fact that she had taken the picture, Max barely thought about the fact that people might be able to recognize Chloe. 

     “Uh, yeah-” The discomfort was clear on the older girl’s face as she stared at the man. 

     “It’s really cool,” the stranger’s attention moved to Max, “for you to use a disabled model. It’s, like, really inclusive and people really like it. What inspired you for the shot?”

     “Well, uh, Chloe and I have been friends since we were little and it was just one of those ‘in the moment’ sort of things.”

     Something on the stranger’s face seemed to morph into a new look that neither of them could describe. “Oh, so she isn’t a model?”

     A new look seemed to settle onto Chloe’s face as her entire demeanor seemed to change. “Excuse me,” she murmured as moved away from them.

    They all seemed to know the unspoken truth that the doctors would always whisper about at almost every doctor’s appointment that Chloe had.  It was a miracle that she had survived so long especially on those terrible days that she had. Everything was so expensive and it was a struggle every  _ month _ to pay for it was exhausting. There were days where Chloe would get into fights with her parents or even Max. There were days where she wished that they would just let her die so it was all over. She didn’t want to leave everyone in so much debt and for them to hold onto the hope that she would somehow live a long life. It had been clear since the first time that she woke up after the accident that she didn’t have that long to live. 

     Part of her wondered if that was why Max asked her to marry her. The wedding, of course, would not happen for financial and personal reasons. But they believed that they were married and that was how they lived ever since that day that she had taken the picture. It seemed so fast after their reunion even if it had been close to two years of them being best friends again. Chloe loved every day of their ‘marriage’ but she knew that it would end in heartbreak. She wanted to prepare her family for when she would pass, though. They could say that they were prepared for it for years but she wanted to know. She wanted to know that they genuinely would be okay when she passed and able to move on.

     Her parents would take a long time to move on and she knew that. They had tried to prepare themselves for the day where she just didn’t wake up or something terrible like that. If someone had seen how they were when Chloe was thirteen then it would be hard to think of how they were now. The love was still there, of course. But there was an unspoken strain over all of them because of what happened and the struggles that they faced because of that. The fact that Max was suddenly apart of it almost made Chloe feel shitty about it but she wouldn’t have it any other way. She didn’t want to die without her best friend. 

     “All you have to do is crank the IV up to eleven,” she mumbled weakly as she tried to maintain eye contact with her wife. It was hard to do that as she blinked back tears and tried to focus on what she was about to do.

     “Chloe, I-” Max’s voice broke as she shook her head. Almost like that would change everything that had happened. 

     “I want this time with you to be my last memory… Do you understand?” It was the truth. 

     “Yes,” her wife said before there was a small pause, “I do.”

     “I’ll just drift asleep… Dreaming of us here together… Forever.”

     The action was slow as Max stood to do as told. Maybe the fact that it barely took any convincing for her own wife to go along with the idea but she knew that it wasn’t like that. Max just understood her and what it meant. There was a soft sigh as she felt the increase in her IV while her head lulled to the side. 

      “I love you Max… See you around.”

**Author's Note:**

> Glad you made it to the end! If you liked it enough then you could leave a kudo or comment which would be appreciated. If you like my writing then maybe think about supporting me on ko-fi: or if you want to commission me for a fic then visit me on my tumblr (under the same name): notstilinski


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